I'm so sorry about the scam! That sounds terrible. There's a site (can't remember the name right now) where you can do a search for images/usernames to see if they're reported scammers. Lots of military guys get their pictures stolen and used by scammers.

Actually, a friend of a friend passed away this year.....and some woman in another country stole a bunch of his facebook pictures and made a profile "of him" so she can pretend he's her boyfriend. So disrespectful. I know multiple people have reported it....but it's still there.

Hi there! im sorry to hear that you've been "hustled". I met my DH on the internet actually, but through an online game. Next year we would have been together for 10 years and in August we have our 2nd wedding anniversary.

for every lock, there is a key x

xxx Sorrow

__________________

I dream of the day that I can finally fill in the second eye on my daruma..

I don't think it matters what site you go on paid or not, there are good guys and there are bad guys. I met my current boyfriend online on POF just over 2 yrs ago. You really have to get to know the person. Don't just jump into a relationship just because. Also I would watch out for guys who want to immediately jump into a relationship!

I met my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years on Okcupid and generally had pretty good luck there. I made some facebook friends that are amusing and come to say hi at conventions even though we decided not to date and found it pretty easy to pick out and avoid the creepers. The only issue I had was that it was very convinced that I had nearly perfect compatibility with some of my exes...so it kept dumping guys who'd already cheated on me in my quiver. There were a few dates where "5'10'' athletic" men turned out to be shorter than me with a bigger cup size, but if my boyfriend dumps me I wouldn't hesitate to reactivate my profile.

I met my husband on Match.com, we are coming up on our 11th anniversary this weekend. Even though we lived within a few miles of each other, it is unlikely that we would have met in person without Match. So I'm a fan of online dating.

My experience on Match.com is that as a woman, you can easily be flooded by men who are NOT what you are looking for. The guys just seems to spam every single lady in their area in hope that something will stick.

After a couple of months I hid my profile and built a secondary profile on another website. Then I contacted only the fellas *I* was interested in and provided them with a link to my profile. Also, I wanted to get offline and in person really quick. The last thing I wanted was a long "fantasy-ish" online relationship! People can be so different in person than they seem online. I just wanted to use the online thing to locate potential dates!

I asked my future husband to talk on the phone after 2 emails, and then during that phone conversation I asked him out for a date that weekend. Best decision I ever made.

Good luck to you!

__________________Loving yourself is an act of will. It doesn't just happen, you have to choose it.

We found each other online 14 years ago on ICQ. I was in Australia and she was here in the States. We have our whole chat history binded like a book which we still look at every now and then lol.

Ok, this is seriously adorable!

My boyfriend and I met online, but through facebook. It happened that he and my brother were in a music video together and I reached out to say hey, the video was really good (I just thought he was cute).
We chatted online for a few months before meeting up and we seriously clicked in a way that I've never had - even with my ex husband. I found that talking without meeting in person gave me the opportunity to really get to know who he is and how he thinks and we didn't complicate things with lust or a physical relationship.

Anyway, I have our chat history and sometimes I look back and chuckle at the beginnings of our little jokes.

I'm really glad a lot of you encouraged me to restart dating, I chatted in the phone with a guy tonight and we laughed a lot, he seems very sincere and sweet. There are a few guys who really seem kind.

I think my husband and I might be one of the first online couples. We met through a discussion board talking about atheism in the fall of 1992. We got married less than a year later in the fall of 1993. :-)

I meet the last girl friend on Match and dated for 3 years. Before that had about 6 on-line related dates. Met my wife through a friend, but if that had not worked out, I would have gone back to on-line dating.

Just make sure you talk by phone for a while before meeting in person, and post a good current photo/s.

Hi! I went on a date yesterday and I had so much fun! I don't know where things will go but I am truly very excited and I'm very glad that a lot of you encouraged me to give online dating a try again. Thanks!